So I got ahold of an old RZ from a friend, traveling in Japan at the moment and lugged it along to get some shots. About halfway through my day yesterday I realized the shutter clap sounded the same no matter the shutter speed. Is this normal? 1/2 a second sounds the same as 1/400th?!

I've looked through the manual, and so far:

1) Checked to make sure the shutter release collar has the white notch aligned with the white dot

2) Changed out the battery

3) Set the camera in either "Normal" or "M" (multi-exposure) mode

The only behavior that seems remotely consistent with the shutter working is that, while in "M" mode, I cannot advance the film cocking lever until, e.g. 2 seconds pass -- in attempting to do so, I get the orange indicator in the viewfinder, the lever is locked back, and then I hear a very minor ping sound once the time associated with the shutter speed elapses, and only then am I free to advance the film.

Well… I broke the battery out of a new package, but it was probably sitting on a shelf since the RZ's heyday. Even still, I'm getting no bad battery indicator in the viewfinder._________________Jim Lafferty // Photography // New York